I will never recommend any fresher to work as a PM. Without product and tech understanding it is a waste of time to work as a PM. Also you should have genuine interest to work as a PM.
Thank you! What you are describing here is more or less exactly what I am going through. Im the only PM in the team and wearing many hats, including ux design and QA. (Havent worked with other PMs) I have been feeling very confused about where I am so thank you for letting me know I am not alone.
This video is spot on. As a senior developer technically leading products I grew into this role and it was hell. So many uncertainties, so much stress, since you don't know what to do. Good comparison to programming: as a programmer, you learn the technology and then there are a few good practices and patterns (SOLID,...) that you pick up relatively quickly and off you go. As a PM you're always faced with an abstract prolem that has many solutions and you don't know how to measure, which solution is the best, since there are many metrics you can pick. As a developer I occassionally obsessed over the problem and wrote a solution at 3am. As a PM my head was always full and occassionally was I able to get a good sleep.
As a 15 year veteran of Product and have served as the Head of Product in many companies, respectfully I think your take is WAY off. That might be your experience, but not all people in the Product world.
So some thoughts for discussion: 1. He says that the PM doesn't own the strategic direction of their product. I empower my PMs to be that CEO. Sure we as a upper management team might need to shift strategies, and have to shift roadmaps, funding, etc. But I expect that PM to be the expert on their product from why and how its positioned in the marketplace, what it needs to be competitive and how to best utilize resources to drive the roadmap. If we as senior leadership needs to alter a strategy, I expect them to tell me HOW those changes will effect the product and tell us what we cannot see since we are at the 10,000 foot level. If they are just waiting for direction from the top down, then they are a PROJECT MANAGER not PRODUCT. 2. Sure the life of a Product Manager might be chaotic, but not any more than any other role in a SaaS or IT driven job. The more chaos there is, the more problems (most of the time), I expect them to smooth the waters and deal with the problems that arise. 3. Your responsible for a lot. I agree with this point, but then most of the time PMs are compensated accordingly. PMs are the hub of most companies, the servant leaders of that companies heartbeat. Much is demanded, but it's manageable. Again, if you are a good proactive PM, then you should have no trouble with the responsibility. 4. I don't agree with his last point. If you're working for Microsoft or Facebook maybe, but I see PMs as some of the most visible people in the company. Most of these folks are natural leaders and good PMs grow in their careers fast. So, as requested, there are some of my rebuttal points hopefully stated respectfully. I think its a great career path and it will vary from company to company as to responsibility and visibility. But I can't think of a better place to be. As the sports saying goes "Winners want the ball at the end of the game". Those are the kind of people that make great PMs.
@@mharper5522 Product Management is a good career, having said that I would disagree with your 1st point. Terming a PM as a CEO would be glamorizing a role that is meant to deliver a completely different job function. Unlike the CEO, the PM does not (typically) have a budget nor are they empowered to make cultural changes (e.g., change the way of implementation).
Thank you Mr. Wei, I tuned in today because I got a call from an optical sourcing company today about being their Sr. PM. I know nothing about this, nor ever thought about being one, until today.
Slow career growth doesn't necessarily equate to slow salary growth, right? Cz then a lot of the incentive goes down the ditch. However, it's still a priority role for me as it's a good mix of tech & business, either of which I don't want to sacrifice for the other.
Correct! Salary isn't necessarily tied to seniority, but value you bring to the business. Titles and comp aren't the same, although they often happen in the same conversations.
I think is more about Define and Undefine scope of work, As.a Software developer, or UI/UX or any technical job you have to report only for your assigned domain as of PM you dont have a proper define scope and most of the time you have to deal with lots of issues which are not even related to the PM domain
Interesting take! As a PM in a non-tech industry my responsibilities are similar, but different, but still same! For me the term product owner makes more sense since at the end of the day I am responsible for all P&L with respect to my product categories. The day to day unpredictability is my favorite part of the job! I do agree that we are responsible for a lot and that can be tough at times. As for slower career growth, I haven't experienced that yet, but I've only been at this a short time!
Last year I took a chance, changed company, moved from Technical Manager to Technical Product manager. Later, did not enjoy a single day, imposter syndrom in PM role is a big challenge. Sometimes you feel like what the hell I am doing in this company 🤣. No visible output. After a lot of struggle once again I moved to tech with 6-7 months. Once worked as a PM for 1-2 years, very difficult to change to pure tech as a developer/architect. Try to work as a shadow PM in existing company. Experience the PM role than change it. I will recommend move to PM if you have genuine interest.
I have similar dilemma. Currently I am leading a small team of 5. Barely wrote a line of code in last 2 years. 50% of the job was figuring out features with CEO & designer. managing the dev team was the other 50%. Immensely enjoyed that. Should I move into PM ?
@@Kaiyes_ as I suggested try to explore opportunities within same company before taking a full time responsibility. Work as shadow role. Talk to existing PMs and ask them how you can contribute. Or in existing role try to behave as PM and do so projects. Write feature requirements and convince dev architects to implement it. Please ensure you like to interact directly with customers.
cool video! the echo is pretty significant tho. try using adobe audition or even better: make sure to setup your hardware and recording room beforehand. keep it up guys!
Just as how each of us sees life differently , it seems to be true in terms of job roles too. To me , product management is still extremely appealing than project management or software engineering.
Thanks for sharing! I also recently chatted with my friend in finance about my job as a PM and posted our convo in my channel❤️ interesting observations from people outside of the tech industry
IB & consulting are work-life imbalance incarnate. They are in their own league when it comes to being hectic. Idk about the others. Still probably hectic but not as much as IB & consulting.
I have great opportunity for you , train yourself as product manger in guidance of great product leader , take training with huge discount if you are interested, message me back.
Why can't fresher break into Product management? Why are fresher's not given a chance at all? Even in the Associate Product Management profiles company require 2-3 years of experience. How are we supposed to get those if we are not given any chance at all.
Speaking as someone who reviews APM resumes. To get into PM, you should get some experience managing an initiative through to the end first. A new grad (without PM internships) may not necessarily have that experience and in most companies even APMs make decisions that can have massive ramifications for the product and the users who use them. I understand it's unfair but someone who is truly ready would have battle scars from things not going well (even , in a different field such as SWE) - new grads don't have those battle scars but can accumulate them over 1-2 years
@@shashanksabhlok6977 Thank you for taking the time to help me realize this. Btw, if I wish to transition from Analyst profile to Product Management, it is possible right?
@@chiranjitdey1430an analyst can become anything he wants , as long as that transformation is backed by experiential learning, rather than Boolean responses from strangers
Ironically, the reasons you pointed out are actually why I want to become a PM!
Great video, btw👏🏼
Same
It's a very rewarding career!
Big opportunities to become great pm , train yourself under the guidance of great product leader , if you are interested reply back.
@@shahrangrez2232 I'm interested
@@shahrangrez2232 I am very interested.
I will never recommend any fresher to work as a PM. Without product and tech understanding it is a waste of time to work as a PM. Also you should have genuine interest to work as a PM.
Thank you! What you are describing here is more or less exactly what I am going through. Im the only PM in the team and wearing many hats, including ux design and QA. (Havent worked with other PMs)
I have been feeling very confused about where I am so thank you for letting me know I am not alone.
If you are trying to switch from software engineering to PM role, please be careful sometimes it is very boring to work as a PM.
Why is it boring compared to coding?
This video is spot on. As a senior developer technically leading products I grew into this role and it was hell. So many uncertainties, so much stress, since you don't know what to do.
Good comparison to programming: as a programmer, you learn the technology and then there are a few good practices and patterns (SOLID,...) that you pick up relatively quickly and off you go.
As a PM you're always faced with an abstract prolem that has many solutions and you don't know how to measure, which solution is the best, since there are many metrics you can pick.
As a developer I occassionally obsessed over the problem and wrote a solution at 3am. As a PM my head was always full and occassionally was I able to get a good sleep.
Glad to hear it resonated!
As a 15 year veteran of Product and have served as the Head of Product in many companies, respectfully I think your take is WAY off. That might be your experience, but not all people in the Product world.
Hi, Mike! Thank you for sharing a diffirent pov. Can you describe in some details of your experience?
I second that. Please can you share your views or your rebuttal to this video? I’d love to know your experience
So some thoughts for discussion:
1. He says that the PM doesn't own the strategic direction of their product. I empower my PMs to be that CEO. Sure we as a upper management team might need to shift strategies, and have to shift roadmaps, funding, etc. But I expect that PM to be the expert on their product from why and how its positioned in the marketplace, what it needs to be competitive and how to best utilize resources to drive the roadmap. If we as senior leadership needs to alter a strategy, I expect them to tell me HOW those changes will effect the product and tell us what we cannot see since we are at the 10,000 foot level. If they are just waiting for direction from the top down, then they are a PROJECT MANAGER not PRODUCT.
2. Sure the life of a Product Manager might be chaotic, but not any more than any other role in a SaaS or IT driven job. The more chaos there is, the more problems (most of the time), I expect them to smooth the waters and deal with the problems that arise.
3. Your responsible for a lot. I agree with this point, but then most of the time PMs are compensated accordingly. PMs are the hub of most companies, the servant leaders of that companies heartbeat. Much is demanded, but it's manageable. Again, if you are a good proactive PM, then you should have no trouble with the responsibility.
4. I don't agree with his last point. If you're working for Microsoft or Facebook maybe, but I see PMs as some of the most visible people in the company. Most of these folks are natural leaders and good PMs grow in their careers fast.
So, as requested, there are some of my rebuttal points hopefully stated respectfully. I think its a great career path and it will vary from company to company as to responsibility and visibility. But I can't think of a better place to be. As the sports saying goes "Winners want the ball at the end of the game". Those are the kind of people that make great PMs.
@@mharper5522 Product Management is a good career, having said that I would disagree with your 1st point. Terming a PM as a CEO would be glamorizing a role that is meant to deliver a completely different job function. Unlike the CEO, the PM does not (typically) have a budget nor are they empowered to make cultural changes (e.g., change the way of implementation).
@@HemantaPathak being a CEO and being the "CEO of your product" are 2 different things for sure.
Thank you Mr. Wei, I tuned in today because I got a call from an optical sourcing company today about being their Sr. PM. I know nothing about this, nor ever thought about being one, until today.
Slow career growth doesn't necessarily equate to slow salary growth, right? Cz then a lot of the incentive goes down the ditch.
However, it's still a priority role for me as it's a good mix of tech & business, either of which I don't want to sacrifice for the other.
Correct! Salary isn't necessarily tied to seniority, but value you bring to the business. Titles and comp aren't the same, although they often happen in the same conversations.
your task is to plan, but then again, it's always changing.
Thank you, just now listening to it fully
All this reasons are why I still would like to be a Pm
But it sure was helpful
This is a really good video to tell people who wanna or not wanna be a PM. 难得有这样的好的视频告诉人们如何取舍，值得分享。
Thanks Ray!
Loved this video. Thank you for uploading.
I think is more about Define and Undefine scope of work, As.a Software developer, or UI/UX or any technical job you have to report only for your assigned domain as of PM you dont have a proper define scope and most of the time you have to deal with lots of issues which are not even related to the PM domain
Interesting take! As a PM in a non-tech industry my responsibilities are similar, but different, but still same! For me the term product owner makes more sense since at the end of the day I am responsible for all P&L with respect to my product categories. The day to day unpredictability is my favorite part of the job! I do agree that we are responsible for a lot and that can be tough at times. As for slower career growth, I haven't experienced that yet, but I've only been at this a short time!
The missing reason to not be a PM is PMs make a lot less than engineers and engineering managers at the same level at most FANG++ companies.
engineering manager ? u mean tech lead/head of engineer ?
PM make a lot less than engineer at FANG companies? how about at small to medium start up company ?
Last year I took a chance, changed company, moved from Technical Manager to Technical Product manager.
Later, did not enjoy a single day, imposter syndrom in PM role is a big challenge. Sometimes you feel like what the hell I am doing in this company 🤣. No visible output.
After a lot of struggle once again I moved to tech with 6-7 months.
Once worked as a PM for 1-2 years, very difficult to change to pure tech as a developer/architect. Try to work as a shadow PM in existing company. Experience the PM role than change it.
I will recommend move to PM if you have genuine interest.
I have similar dilemma. Currently I am leading a small team of 5. Barely wrote a line of code in last 2 years. 50% of the job was figuring out features with CEO & designer. managing the dev team was the other 50%. Immensely enjoyed that.
Should I move into PM ?
@@Kaiyes_ as I suggested try to explore opportunities within same company before taking a full time responsibility. Work as shadow role. Talk to existing PMs and ask them how you can contribute. Or in existing role try to behave as PM and do so projects. Write feature requirements and convince dev architects to implement it. Please ensure you like to interact directly with customers.
cool video! the echo is pretty significant tho. try using adobe audition or even better: make sure to setup your hardware and recording room beforehand. keep it up guys!
Thanks for the feedback! We'll keep that in mind for our next shoot :)
This was perfect - I’m defo not being a PM 🙃
Just as how each of us sees life differently , it seems to be true in terms of job roles too. To me , product management is still extremely appealing than project management or software engineering.
Great video, thanks!
Of course!
Thanks for sharing! I also recently chatted with my friend in finance about my job as a PM and posted our convo in my channel❤️ interesting observations from people outside of the tech industry
Don't leave your product management career to chance. Sign up for Exponent's PM interview course today: bit.ly/3VEmOag
Why are you still a PrM if that’s so ‘bad’ work?
what is average working hour per week for a PM? Is it more hectic than marketing managers or general managers, or consulting, IB
IB & consulting are work-life imbalance incarnate. They are in their own league when it comes to being hectic.
Idk about the others. Still probably hectic but not as much as IB & consulting.
bri im preparing for consulting job, im getting so scared now @@yugen3968 😭
Why only eng or data, are deisgners not moving to PM?
thanks for successfully talking the idea off my head.😄
😂
Sir I am a fresher for pm role what should I do ?
I have great opportunity for you , train yourself as product manger in guidance of great product leader , take training with huge discount if you are interested, message me back.
business system analyst is a good start for a fresher
Why can't fresher break into Product management? Why are fresher's not given a chance at all? Even in the Associate Product Management profiles company require 2-3 years of experience. How are we supposed to get those if we are not given any chance at all.
Speaking as someone who reviews APM resumes. To get into PM, you should get some experience managing an initiative through to the end first. A new grad (without PM internships) may not necessarily have that experience and in most companies even APMs make decisions that can have massive ramifications for the product and the users who use them. I understand it's unfair but someone who is truly ready would have battle scars from things not going well (even , in a different field such as SWE) - new grads don't have those battle scars but can accumulate them over 1-2 years
@@shashanksabhlok6977 Thank you for taking the time to help me realize this. Btw, if I wish to transition from Analyst profile to Product Management, it is possible right?
@@chiranjitdey1430an analyst can become anything he wants , as long as that transformation is backed by experiential learning, rather than Boolean responses from strangers
No. LOL